Blue-printing machine



Sept. 24, 1929. F J TRUMPOUR 1,729,462

BLUE PRINT ING MACHINE Filed Jan. ,1 927 4 Sheets-Sheet l Who z EJ Trumpour Sept. 24, 1929. F. J. TRUMPOUR BLUE PRINTING MACHINE Filed Jan. lo. 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept; 24, 1929. F. .E. TRUMPOUR BLUE PRINTING MACHINE Filed Jan. 10, 1927 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 l I l atented Sept. 24, 1929 I %JNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FREDERICK JAMES TRUMPOUR, OF FOREST GLEN, MARYLAND BLUE-PRINTING MACHINE Application filed January 10, 1927. serial No. 160,250.

tion `where the blue print paper, sensitized upon both surfaces, may be subjected simultaneously to printing from negatives at opposite sides thereof. This single exposure station will reduce the time element involved in the printing process' and will increase the Capacity of th'e machine and in general, re- 50 duce the expense.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved blue printing machine in which provision is made for printing blue prnt'paper, sensitized upon a single surface only, blue print paper upon which an emulsion is produced upon both surfaces, or Vandyke paper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved blue .printing machine in which the accurate registration of the negatives and blue print paper will be assured, in which the printing will be elficiently and faithfully accomplished and in which the movement of the paper and negatives through the machine will be positive and faithful.

With the' foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be more fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims .appended hereto. a

In the drawings, wherein like symbols refer to like or corresponding parts through- L out the several views,

Figure 1 is a side elevation with parts shown in section of an improved blue printing machine constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figura 2 is a fragmentary detail showing l jo l the drive mechanism of the blue print drawing rolls. 4 Figure 3 is an -enlarged horizontal sectional view taken through the assembly and feeding mechanism. Figure 4 is a side view of the parts shown in Figure 3.

` Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken through the single eXposure station i showing a slight modification.

Figure 6 is a vertical section taken through a modified form of the machine. i i

- Figure 7 is a fragmentary longitudinal section of the glass eXposure station cylnder, and its support as shown in Fgure 6.

Figure 8 is a vertical section through a glass cylindrical exposure station, showing a further modification; and Figure 9 is a vertical section through an exposure station and assembling' and feeding apparatus showing a still further modified 'form of apparatus.

Referring more particularly to the drawings and for the present to Figures l to 4, inclusive, the broken line 10 in Figure 1 designates the blue print paper as emerging from between the feed rolls 11 and 12, which feed rolls are also shown in Figure 2 as having extended shafts to which are afiixed the pinions 13 and 14 driven from the beveled gear wheels 15 and 1 6, the latter of which is fixed to the vertical line shaft 17. The shaft 17 extends down to the lower portion of the framework 18 of the machine where it is driven by beveled or other gears from the horizontal shaft 19, having thereon the worm wheel-20 meshing with the worm 21 driven by the electric motor 22 orother appropriate source of power.

The rolls 11 and 12 thus have a peripheral movement in opposite directions such as to draw the blue print paper-10 through the machine. Tt will be understood that a negative is placed against each side of the blue printpaper, and after passing the exposure station, the deflectors 23 and 24 will separate the negatives from the blue print paper, one negative being diverted to the hopper 25 and a second negative to the hopper 26.

- The hopp ers are located at opposite sides of the exposure station, having the convex glass 27. In accordance with the present invention, one or more lights 28 are located within or upon the concave side .of the exposure glass 27 and a second source of illumination, indicated at 29, is located in spaced relation from the outside or convex 'surface of the exposure glass 27. A casing 30 may be fitted about the exposure station and within the traveling transparent belt 31, which is trained over the rollers 32, 33 and 34, and is driven by the roller 35 adjacent the assembling and feeding apparatus. This roller 35 is shown as placed at the initial or receiving end of the exposure station. The belt 31 will be of some transparent material and the arrangement is such that one' flight of this belt will slide past the convex face of the exposure glass 27 in I order to tightly press the negatives and blue print paper thereagainst to secure that desirably great pressure necessary for good printing.

. Referring more particularly to Figures 3 and. 4, these' figures 'correspond to Figures 4 and 5 of the prior application aforesaid, and

- reference may be had to the prior application for a more complete description of the construction. I am content in the present specification to point out more particularly the features of improvementover my prior machine. At 36 are shown the upper feed chains and at 37 the lower feed chains, while the blue print or Vandyke paper 10 is shown as placed in a roll within the cylindrical casing 38 located between such chains, the blue print paper issuingthrough an opening 39in the casing to engage between the two negatives 40 and 41. These negatives are drawn along with the chains by means of the clamping bars 42 and 43, which are fully illustrated in Figr ures 6 to 10 of the prior application aforesaid. The feed belts are indicated at 44 and 45. The belt 44 is mounted about the rolls 46 and`47, while the lower feed-belt 45'extends about the rolls 48 and 49. These belts ex'- ert a pressure upon the negatives and interposed' blue print paper. It has been found,

however, that a certain slippage or relative,

creeping of the negative and blue print paper takes place even when the lower belt 45 is caused to move over a table, such as shown in Figure 5 of the co-pending application. In order to avoid this, I provide within the fabric feed belt 45, a fiexible slat-work conveyor. 50 composed of narrow slats Secured flexibly together in any appropriate manner. This slat-work conveyor is also mounted to move about the rolls 48 and 49 with the canvas belt 45. The slats extend transversely of the belt and they possess suflicient rigidity to hold the i upper run of the feed belt 45 against the lower run of the upper feed belt 44, but it is desirable to sustain the slats at spaced intervals and this I accomplish by the longitudinally extending rails 51. Suchrailsmay conveniently be of I-beam or channel Construction and three or more such rails may be used, one rail at each edge of the slatted belt, and a third rail ntermediately of the belt. The rails may be supported upon the transverse beams 52 and 53, supported in the side of the framework.

The blue print paper and negatives are received by the exposure station from the feeding belts 44 and45, the blue print paper being initially threaded through the machine and through the traction rollers 11 and 12, by which the continuity of the movement of the paper is preserved, aided by the movement of 'the feeding belts and the positively driven transparent belt 31 of'the exposure station.

In Figure 1 there are, besides the cylindri'- cal container 38, two other containers 54 and 55. "These three containers are interposed between the chains 36 and 37 and the negatives are carried one above and one below these containers. One container may contain blue print paper having an emulsion on only one side for single printing; a second container may hold blue print paper sensitized upon both obverse and reverse faces, for double blue p rinting; while the third container may contain Vandyke paper. Dhe spouts or openings 56 and 57 of the second and third containers in series are directed upwardly, or they might be directed downwardly in order to permit the paper held therein to pass freely about the container or oontainers in front thereo'f. i

Referring more particularly to F igure 5, there `is herein shown an exposure station -complying i-n all respects with the description of the exposure station illustrated in Figure 1 and similar parts bear the same reference numerals. There is, however, in Figure 5 an additional transparent belt 58 shown extending about the rollers 59, 60 and 61 and about the convex side of the exposure glass 27 next the glass; or in other Words, between the glass and thetransparent belt 31. As shown in the broken line, the blue print paper and the negatives are received betweenthe transparent belts 31 and 58 and in this condition pass through the exposure station. The belt 58 moves along either by a positive drive nechanism or by the friction of the moving belt 31 and the negative and blue print paper. In either event, it provides a moving surface against which the upper negative will move as against the fixed glass surface of the exposure station in Figure 1. The belt 58 will ,prevent any sluggishness, lagging and lack of held upon a-spider framework 65 radiating from the shaft 66. As shown in Figure 7 this shaft 66 is sta tionary and the glass drum 62 is mounted in heads 67 which are Secured to a sleeve .68 fitted for rotation about the stationary shaft 66.` The sleeve 68 carries a sprocket 69 for receiving the chain 70 by which the drum is driven. The stationary shaft 66 forms an appropriate support for the spider frame 65. A second series of lamps 71 are shown in lFigure 6, as arranged upon the outside of the drum and within the metallic casing 7 2. The blue print paper and negatives are carried beneath the drum and about a substantial portion of its periphery, being held tightly thereagainst by the transparent belt 7 3, which extends at its flights about the lower driven roller 74: and upper 'idler 7 5,

and at its intermediate parts about the drum and about small idlers 76, 77 and 78 on the outside of the shield 7 2. The blue print paper and negatives are taken ofi' at the upper large idler 75, one negative being immediately introduced into the hopper 79, while the other negative is taken to the upper hopper 80. The blue print paper is indicated by the broken line 10, as being carried up through -the feed rolls 81 and 82. Suitable stripping means are provided for separating the negatives 'from the blue print paper at the several hoppers. v I

Referring now to Figure 8, a somewhat similar form of exposure staton s shown,

' except that the glass cylinder 83 is an interrupted one, having a slot 84 therein and this glass cylinder is fixed against rotation,

the opening 84 being obscured or cut off from the light by the arcuate reflectdr 85 `within the cylinder, which contains the exposure lamps 86. The outside eX'posure lamps are indieated at 87 and one transparent belt at 88. A second transparent belt 89 is provided in this case, which encircles the cylinder 83 an extends about an idler 90 opposite the slot 84. This web or belt 89 may be positively driven, or it may be only driven by the friction of the moving negative and blue print paper, but it provides a slipping surface much like the belt`58, shown in Figure 5.

As to Figure 9, the exposure station is substantially as shown in Figure 1, and the as-` sembling and feeding station is also much like that shown in Figures 1 and 4, except that the upper feed belt 44 is curved to conform to the curvature of a drum 91 preferably covered with canvas or some other approp priate material and acting as the lower feed belt 45 of Figure 4.' The chains 36 and 37 are also trained about this 'drum 91 and caused to follow an arcuate path about the upper portion of" the drum'. The drum may be rotated or not, as desired, but it will form a rigid hacking for the lower run of the upper feed belt 44, and for the blue print paper the negatives are pulled through by the chains, such negatives being clamped in the registering bars carried by the ehains, which registering bars are referred to at 42 and 43 in Fig. 4:. The registering negatives and blue print papers are passed over the drum 91, being pressed tightly thereagainst by the curved belt 4 9 and in general, the mode of operation and the progress of the blue print papers and negatives through the machine is as described in the co-pending application above referred to.

The lower run of the lt will be appreciated that when the blue I print paper, sensitized upon both sides, is passed through 'the exposure station, the eX- pesurc lanps upon opposite sides thereot` will direct their rays simultaneously through both negatives whereby the negatives will be printed at the same time upon opposite sides of the blue print paper. This will accomplish the printing in. substantially half the time required where two stations are used. The machine may also be made correspondingly smaller and may be operated quickerand with less difiiculty, conserving also the time. of the operator and in this way redueing naterally the cost of this work.

It will be obvious also that many other changes in the Construction, combination and arrangement of parts could be made, which could be used without departing from the spiritof my invention, and I do not mean to limit the invention to such details, except as. particnlarlypointed out in the claims.

Having t-hus described my invention, what ll claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A blue printing machine comprising an exposure station, and an assembly and feeding station comprising a pair of movable chains having means to grasp and draw therewith a pair of negatives, feed belts for receiving the negatives therebetween, and a pluralty of receptacles nterposed between said belts for containinga single and double sensitized blue print paper and Vandyke fixed'shaft in said drum, a spider on said shaft, illuminating means within the drum married at one side of said spider,-a reflector in the drum carried at the other side of said spider, a second illuminating means disposed 5 without the drum, and a transparent belt for pressing the superposed negative and blue print paper against that part of the ex- `teror surface of said drum, that is between the illuminating means within and without the drum.

3. A blue printing machine comprising means for assembling negatives upon oppo- 'site sides of a doublj sensitized blue print paper, said means comprising opposed feeding belts, recptacles adjacent said'feeding belts for the blue print paper and having openings through which the blue print paper issues, endless chains having means to pull the negatives through the feeding belts, a single 'exposure station, means for drawing the superposed negatives and blue print paper past said single exposure station, op` w posed illuminating means at said exposure station for simultaneously printng upon opposite sides of the blue print paper, and means at the exposure station for pressing 'said negatives and blue print paper tightly together. FREDERICK JAMES TRUMPOUR. 

